Lens to use for landscape


Hmm, get an UWA lens and use the aperture stop @ f8 or f11 for sharp pics ;) most landscape pics are better off sharp throughout the whole pic. The 17-40 f4L is the cheapest L lens money can buy, or you could go with the 10-22 or with a little bit more top up, a 17-55? :)
 

Hi Bros & Pros,

can anybody tell me which type of lens, is the best to capture landscapes. I am using Canon 7D with Kit lens(15-85mm). I am not satisfied with my kit Lens. :(

Your kit lens is not good enough.

Buy a Canon 10-22 or Tokina 11-16

Then Buy a Gitzo 1541 with Markins Q3T with RRS Plate for 7D

Then Buy B+W ND110 Filter

Then Buy Cokin & Tianya Filters

Then Start Organising outings and poison other people.

That's it !

Kit lens not good enough?



All shot with an 3.5 years old entry level camera with a 18-55 Kit lens mounted on a 8 years old $50 tripod with no filters.

Focusing on your skills will go a much much longer way in making good pictures than focusing on equipment.

You do not need a UWA, a gitzo, B+W filters, or Markins ballhead to make good pictures...

And O-boy... Cokin and Tianya filters suck.
 

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Kit lens not good enough?

All shot with an 3.5 years old entry level camera with a 18-55 Kit lens mounted on a 8 years old $50 tripod.

Focusing on your skills will go a much much longer way in making good pictures than focusing on equipment.

You do not need a UWA, a gitzo, B+W filters, or Markins ballhead to make good pictures...

And O-boy... Cokin and Tianya filters suck.

lol this will not go down well with some people. :bsmilie:

nice photos btw.:)
 

lol this will not go down well with some people. :bsmilie:

nice photos btw.:)

well...

I am not saying expensive is no good. Expensive gear is nice to have and nice to use. But not having expensive gear is no excuse for producing lousy pictures.

And Cokin and Tianya are really not great. But people can still make wonderful pictures with them, because they know the limitations and work around them. But since got money to buy gitzo, why suffer with Cokin and Tianya. Get Lee filters lor.

Don't blame the equipment lor...

:bsmilie::bsmilie::bsmilie:

And thanks.. those pictures are my oldies... LOL. first time at punggol and first time at barrage.
 

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Why do you want bokeh effect with landscapes?
What exactly are you trying to achieve? You mean a part of the landscape sharp, and the rest blur?

No,. what I wanted to say was the Kit lens is rather good for taking portraits.. than landscapes. When I crop the photo/ zoom in landscape shots for detail - I dont see a good image quality, its grainy.
 

No,. what I wanted to say was the Kit lens is rather good for taking portraits.. than landscapes. When I crop the photo/ zoom in landscape shots for detail - I dont see a good image quality, its grainy.

It is not the lens that is making the picture grainy... but noise.

How to reduce noise? low ISO, and/or proper exposure.

Please know your camera before coming to a conclusion.

I think you can improve a lot more if you improve your understanding of your equipment and of landscape photography itself.
 

And I want to add, 15-85 is not really a kit lens. It is actualy a very good lens and one of the sharper lenses around.

But if people can achieve nice landscape pictures with 18-55 with much older camera (with old technology), why can't you with 15-85 with a current one?

Think through it. And you will realize it comes down to your skills. Go read, learn, practice and improve yourself. Don't blame the equipment.
 

It is not the lens that is making the picture grainy... but noise.

How to reduce noise? low ISO, and/or proper exposure.

Please know your camera before coming to a conclusion.

I think you can improve a lot more if you improve your understanding of your equipment and of landscape photography itself.

yes.. I put ISO to 100 during the day, chose spot metering to get to the correct setting of DOF & SHSP. then focus, then take the shots... but I am still getting the noise when I zoom in / crop.
 

yes.. I put ISO to 100 during the day, chose spot metering to get to the correct setting of DOF & SHSP. then focus, then take the shots... but I am still getting the noise when I zoom in / crop.

If it's LE, it's most probably noise due to LE. If not, then maube you're pixel peeping too much?
 

yes.. I put ISO to 100 during the day, chose spot metering to get to the correct setting of DOF & SHSP. then focus, then take the shots... but I am still getting the noise when I zoom in / crop.

Then you are doing something else wrong...

Look at this girl. She also shoots with 15-85.

http://www.clubsnap.com/forums/showpost.php?p=6688171&postcount=212

Do you still think it is the lens?

BTW she is only 11 years old. And has a very good learning attitude. So much so, some of the top masters in landscape photography in clubsnap has been training her since the last couple of months.

See how hard work and the correct learning attitude can take you?
 

And I want to add, 15-85 is not really a kit lens. It is actualy a very good lens and one of the sharper lenses around.

But if people can achieve nice landscape pictures with 18-55 with much older camera (with old technology), why can't you with 15-85 with a current one?

Think through it. And you will realize it comes down to your skills. Go read, learn, practice and improve yourself. Don't blame the equipment.

No,. what I wanted to say was the Kit lens is rather good for taking portraits.. than landscapes. When I crop the photo/ zoom in landscape shots for detail - I dont see a good image quality, its grainy.

Daredevil123 made some very good points. IMHO, you should get your composition right in the first place to minimize the amount of cropping. Cropping to 'zoom in' on details will compromise your photo quality. If you need to zoom, then do it with your lens when taking the photo, not during post-processing!
 

Go to National Library, borrow a few books on Landscape photography, you will see great landscape photos are taken at all sort of weather conditions, all type of lenses, with or without any filters etc......

If there is one thing must have beside the camera and lens, all I can say is the tripod.
 

how complex are your landscapes? if just simple sweeping type even those pns with pano sweeping function or photoshop photomerge can solve your problems...
 

Then you are doing something else wrong...

Look at this girl. She also shoots with 15-85.

http://www.clubsnap.com/forums/showpost.php?p=6688171&postcount=212

Do you still think it is the lens?

BTW she is only 11 years old. And has a very good learning attitude. So much so, some of the top masters in landscape photography in clubsnap has been training her since the last couple of months.

See how hard work and the correct learning attitude can take you?

Thanks,. I impressed with the shots - picture composition plays a very vital part. What I am trying to find out is if you zoom in lets say 500% it gets noisier. how to reduce that, if I want to blow out to make photo frame of S12R 12" × 18", it would be grainy with noise.. the quality of the image is not well achieved.:(
 

Iso 100 is not noise-less just less... Do you post process other than crop? Certain post process uncrease noise...similarly to your lighting conditions. Dunno if long exposure contributes noise too. General purpose zoom lens 15-85 can be considered as 2nd best in terms of IQ after 17-55 in my opinion.
 

Thanks,. I impressed with the shots - picture composition plays a very vital part. What I am trying to find out is if you zoom in lets say 500% it gets noisier. how to reduce that, if I want to blow out to make photo frame of S12R 12" × 18", it would be grainy with noise.. the quality of the image is not well achieved.:(

Err... why are you zooming in 500%? There's no lens or camera that will produce good "quality" image when you blow it up 500% coz the information is not there to begin with. (By the way, the lack of quality is not due to "noise". It's the imaging program's extrapolation at work.)

If you find that you need to "zoom in" that much, either change your vantage point (get closer) or get a telephoto lens.
 

Thanks,. I impressed with the shots - picture composition plays a very vital part. What I am trying to find out is if you zoom in lets say 500% it gets noisier. how to reduce that, if I want to blow out to make photo frame of S12R 12" × 18", it would be grainy with noise.. the quality of the image is not well achieved.:(

As mentioned by catchlights above, use a tripod. Some of it could be camera shake.

Also practice how to handhold your camera to take steady shots, breathing technique, composition, etc...
 

Thanks,. I impressed with the shots - picture composition plays a very vital part. What I am trying to find out is if you zoom in lets say 500% it gets noisier. how to reduce that, if I want to blow out to make photo frame of S12R 12" × 18", it would be grainy with noise.. the quality of the image is not well achieved.:(

Dear TS, A 500% zoom will produce a grainy image, even with a 7D. This is not noise. Better go read up.